What is a contractor background check?

A contractor background check pulls public records about a business entity and the trades it holds licenses in. It is fundamentally different from a tenant or employee background check, which falls under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and requires written consumer consent.

The records that matter for contractors are: state licensing board status and disciplinary history, Secretary of State entity registration and officer/agent records, county-level civil court filings (lawsuits, judgments, mechanics' liens), federal OSHA citations and inspection history, BBB accreditation and complaint counts, and — for federal work — SAM.gov exclusion lists. Some checks also look at workers' compensation insurance status, unemployment insurance accounts, and federal tax lien filings.

A contractor background check is legal to perform without notifying the contractor. Public records are public — that is what "public" means. The business is not entitled to a copy of the report, and there is no adverse-action notice requirement, because the check is on a commercial entity offering services to the public. This is the same legal posture as checking a restaurant's health inspection score or a dentist's license.

A contractor background check does NOT include: criminal history of the owner (that is FCRA-regulated and requires consent), personal credit scores, references from prior customers, or insurance policy verification. Insurance certificates must be verified by calling the insurer directly — a contractor can hand you a PDF that was canceled three weeks ago.

Groundcheck (earthmove.io/trust) is a contractor background check — entity-only, public records, no FCRA consent required, no notice to the contractor. The free tier returns a verdict; the $19 Deep Dive adds a downloadable PDF, court-record citations, and a 12-month monitoring window. Pro at $99.99/month is for procurement teams, real-estate investors, and anyone running more than a handful of checks per month.